Guns'n'roses, I believe, is one of the most unfortunate groups on the planet. They have a semi-violent name. Many of their songs are dirty. Axl loves to drop the four letter word and its many combinations in their songs. He even found a way to garnish Dylan's song writing skills with a four letter word in "Knocking on heaven's door". Yet they are known to most people for "November Rain" and "Sweet child of mine". To add insult to injury, the second song was covered by Sheryl Crow, quite well too. I have heard so many people say they love GnR for the above mentioned songs "Wow! GnR! What a wonderful group! Have you heard "November Rain"? Slash's guitaring is the best man".
I stayed a good distance from GnR through the 90s. Towards the end of the decade, century and millennium I finally bought a GnR CD. It was, hold on to your chair, their singles release of "November rain" with three songs, namely, "November rain", "Sweet child of mine" and "Patience". Yeah, I know. That's me, the perfect hypocrite. My first GnR CD consisted of their three softest songs.
Their first album "Appetite for Destruction" was a mind blower. The opening of the "Welcome to the Jungle" is probably the best opening for any album (except maybe "Machine Head" by Deep Purple). Except for the song "Sweet Child of mine" most songs are raw and at most times brutal. "Paradise City" is an anthemic, fun and yet not exactly a clean number. I had heard the songs in the album many times before I listened to it with focus from the start to end. That is when I realized the greatness of GnR.
But "Appetite for Destruction" was not the first album that turned my attention to GnR. Somewhere among my music collection lay the double the album "Use your illusions". The first time I listened to it, I realized that Axl Rose is probably the best rock singer on this planet. I have the felt the same for a few other singers (Ian Gillian, Mike Patton and Serj Tankian) but the edginess that Axl brings to his voice is something that no one has. A song from the album forced me to write this piece. It has him shouting or screaming "waaaaaaaarrrrrr". That is probably the most effective way to sing the word war. Funnily, Axl's ability to sing in two voices reminded me of M.R.Radha. The actor put it to great use in his movies and it made him seem like a rock star of the Tamil movies. Axl, without doubt, is a rockstar. I realize that he is a prick but he is a prick with a beautiful voice.
That's bring me to my crib with people. Most people I have noticed talk about Slash and his guitars. Slash is a dude and a fantastic guitarist too. But for me GnR is about Axl. His voice and style of singing is unlike anything I have heard and I hear a lot of rock and metal. John Fogerty during the Creedence Clearwater Revival days had a gentlemanly version of the menace. His singing in "Fortunate Son" could probably be considered an influence for Axl's singing. Axl's got attitude too and it comes out plenty in the videos too. I consider him to be the perfect front man for a rock or metal group. When one talks about GnR, one talks about him and goes no further.
Isn't "Civil War" an amazing song? It has a message and it starts and end beautifully. I love the way Wah-Wah guitars (I think) sound when Axl says the line "What's so civil about war?" I am not a lyrics person and so never bothered to listen to the lyrics of this song. But the way the song sounded I knew it had to be important. Even today, I don't care too much about the lyrics as good as they are. Black Sabbath had sang so effectively against war in 1970. How can anyone better that with lyrics? So its all about the structuring of the song and Axl's attitude.
I wish more people on this planet listened to songs like this. Instead they are stuck in their sliver of music taste. They don't venture out of their Semmangudis, Joshis, Burmans, Illaiyarajas, Rahmans and Bachs. They don't even listen to fusion groups like Shakthi. It's a shame, for every genre has good music, musicians and lyricists. These are people who have the imagination and creativity to come up with something original. I don't like Hip Hop but how can one not like Eminem's songs or Childish Gambino's "This is America". If one loves music, one has to listen and appreciate everything good and not be stuck in Sa-Re-Ga-Mas or Do-Re-Mes. Of course, its their lives and they have every right to like what they want and think of everything else as noise. In that case, the question in my mind is "Why do you strut around considering yourself an expert in music?"
The unbridled passion displayed by the people involved in rock and metal music is tough to resist. While I am sure every musician is passionate about his or her form of music. This comes to the fore in the case of rock and metal. Many of the great songs are written and composed by young people. Their ability to think up something deep and complex amazes me. The different instruments and the voice coming together perfectly is something beyond my comprehension. And then these fellows get on to the stage. Their antics on the stage makes them seem not human. They throw themselves into the song. I will never stop listening to loud music. It is sad many believe that this form of music constitute noise. If you cannot enjoy any type of music, how can you claim yourself to be lover of music. Many of you are not even willing to listen to the song. People with limited view of the world cannot claim to be all knowing.
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